Information storage device



April 30, 1968 YOW-JIUN HU 3,381,299

INFORMATION STORAGE DEVI GE Filed June 13, 1966 INVENTOR Yaw-Jun Hu BY hw ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,381,299 INFORMATION STORAGE DEVICEYoW-Jiun Hu, 5831 Quantrell Ave., Apt. 401, Alexandria, Va. 22312 FiledJune 13, 1966, Ser. No. 556,924 Claims. (Cl. 346-21) ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE An information storage device comprising an endless waxcoated band surrounded by an endless translucent band. The bands aremoved together over spaced parallel rollers and under embossing membersarranged to strike the translucent band and displace the wax coating tostore the desired information. The information is removed by separatingthe bands.

addition, the machines have limited capacity for paper.

supply and therefore require continual stoppage of operation to providea new paper supply. This is costly and time consuming.

In accordance with the present invention, a new temporary record isprovided which is reusable and of low initial cost, wherein the paperrecord of the prior art is replaced by an endless record member of thetype known in the prior art as a Magic Slate. The Magic Slate materialis formed in an endless band around a tension roller and a pressureroller which are separated in space.

The endless band includes a wax coated black tape layer and atranslucent tape layer, the layers being separated just prior torecording thereon by a separator and waxer to clear the record. Anadhesive layer can be incorporated onto the black tape layer, ifdesired, to act as a bond.

ing agent. The record is formed by printing thereon with embossedmembers such as typewriter keys, the record being formed in the samemanner as the well known Magic Slate and being revolved aboilt therollers by a ratchet member in the well known manner.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an inexpensivereusable information record for use with typewriters, calculators andthe like which does not require an ink ribbon.

It is a further object of'this invention to provide an endless reusablerecord for typewriters, calculators and the like.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide an endlessMagic Slate including a separator of the Slate" layers and a waxer forone of the Slate layers to enable continual use.

The above objects and still further objects of this invention willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art when considered in view ofthe following specification of a preferred embodiment of the inventionwhich is provided by way of example and not by way of limitation,wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a view in elevation of the preferred embodiment of theinvention;

FIGURE 2 is a side view of the recording medium with rollers andseparator;

FIGURE 3 is a view taken along the line 33 of FIGURE 2; and

3,381,299 Patented Apr. 30, 1968 FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view ofthe recording medium with printing thereon taken along the line 4-4 ofFIGURE 2.

Referring now to FIGURE 1, there is shown the information recordingdevice of the present invention as it would be incorporated into atypewriter, calculator and the like. The recording device 1 includes aresilient roller 3 and a tension roller 5. The resilient roller 3includes a shaft 7 fixedly positioned in side plates 9 and Y11 in wellknown manner. The shaft 7 passes through the side plate 11 and includesa ratchet 13 thereon rotated by a panel 13' for rotating the shaft 7when a force is applied to the teeth 15 thereof in the well knownmanner.

The side plates 9 and 11 include rectangular apertures 17 and 19 thereinin which the alignment member 23 of the tension roller 5 can move. Theshaft 21 is retained in alignment by the alignment members 23 secured tothe shaft 21 and of smaller cross-section than the apertures 17 and 19.An alignment member 23 is positioned inside the apertures v17 and 19.The alignment members 23 include an extending plug member 25 integraltherewith or secured thereto for retaining tensioning springs 27 whichare also secured to plug members 29 on the side plates 9 and 11. Theresilient roller 3 includes an outer rubber portion 53 and an innermetal portion 55 secured around the shaft 7 (FIGURE 2) whereas, thetension roller 5 includes an outer rubber portion 57 and an inner metalportion 59 secured around the shaft 21.

Also secured to the side plates 9 and 11 is a separator and waxer 31(FIGURES 2 and 3), this member being secured to the side plates by itsshaft 33 and securing members 61 secured thereto. The separator andwaxer 31 includes a metal core which is the shaft 33, the portion 35thereof comprising a hard wax, preferably a parafiin wax.

An endless ban-d recording elemen 37 is positioned around the rollers 3and 5 and is under tension due to the action of the springs 27. Therecording element includes the materials of the well known Magic Slateand includes, as better shown in FIGURES 2 to 4, a translucent tapeouter layer 41, a wax coated black tape inner layer 39, and an optionaladhesive layer 40 therebetween, between the black tape 39 and the waxlayer thereon. The separator and waxer 31 separates the layers 39, 40and 41 and provides a wax coating to the adhesive layer 40 as it passesthereover. Both tapes 39 and 41 can be made of well known plastics,examples of which are polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, Myler, etc. Theadhesive layer 40 is formed with the layer 39 and stays therewith uponseparation.

The recording element 37 is held flush with the resilient roller 3 bymeans of pressure rollers 43 which are positioned on the shaft 45. Theshaft 45 is secured for rotation in the side plate 11 and is biasedagainst the roller 3 by a spring member 47. A printing hammer 49 isshown having embossed indicia 51 for entering data onto the recordingelement 37.

In operation, the combined tapes 39 and 41 appear white. Data isrecorded on the recording element 37 by the impingement of the embossedprinting hammer 49 thereon in well known manner. This causes thetranslucent tape layer 41 to be depressed in the shape of the embossinginto the wax coated black layer 39 to provide a visible black recording63 of the indicia on the printing hammer. This is continued line by linewith the rotation of the ratchet 13 until the recording element passesaround the tension roller 5 whereupon the layer 39 with the adhesivelayer 40 thereon is separated by the separator and waxer 31 from thelayer 41 to remove the recorded indicia therefrom and add wax to thelayer 39 and adhesive layer 40 so that it is conditioned to repeat therecording operation unimpaired. The adhesive layer 40 is positioned onthe 3 tape 39 for the purpose of receiving wax from the waxer 31.

Due to the unequal length of the two tape layers 39 and 41, it ispossible to distribute the printing zone uniformly over the entire tapesurface. In other words, the length of the translucent 41 can be made tobe a non-integer multiple of the line advance (pitch) as determined bythe ratchet mechanism 13 so that the same area on the tape does not fallexactly under the printing zone after each complete cycle thereof. Thelayers 39 and 41 would then always engage each other at fresh areas onsuccessive passes through the printing zone.

The tension roller 5 can be replaced by an endless tape cartridge toprovide additional capacity. Such cartridges are well known in themagnetic tape art.

In addition, the above described system can be used with a ribbon orcarbon paper or both and paper to provide single or multiple permanentcopies of the data being recorded in addition to the temporary storageof data described hereinabove.

While the invention has been described with respect to preferredembodiments thereof, many variations and modifications thereof willimmediately become apparent to those skilled in the art. It is thereforethe intention that the appended claims be interpreted as broadly aspossible in view of the prior art to include all such variations andmodifications.

What is claimed is:

1. A reusable recording device which includes an endless translucentsheet, a dark colored endless sheet having a deformable wax coatingthereon substantially coextensive with said translucent sheet,positioned within said translucent sheet and in intimate contacttherewith, means positioned within said endless sheets for maintainingsaid sheets under tension, and means positioned between said translucentsheet and said coated sheet for separating said sheets.

2. A reusable recording device as set forth in claim 1, wherein saidmeans positioned between said sheets further includes means for applyingwax to said dark colored sheet.

3. A reusable recording device as set forth in claim 1, furtherincluding an adhesive layer positioned on said dark colored sheet.

4. A reusable recording device as set forth in claim 1, wherein saidmeans positioned within said endless sheets includes a first rollerrotatable on its axis and a second roller, said second roller includingtensioning means for providing a predetermined tension to said sheets.

5. A reusable recording device as set forth in claim 1, wherein saidmeans positioned within said endless sheets includes a first rollerrotatable on its axis and a second roller, said second roller includingtensioning means for providing a predetermined tension to said sheets.

6. A reusable recording device as set forth in claim 1, furtherincluding means to step said means positioned within said sheets in astep-by-step manner, each said step rotating said sheets a predetermineddistance, the length of said dark colored sheet being longer than saidtranslucent sheet by an amount equal to a non-integral multiple of saidpredetermined distance, whereby said translucent sheet will moverelative to said deformable sheet .an amount equal to said non-integralmultiple of said predetermined distance for every revolution of saidsheets.

7. A reusable recording device as set forth in claim 5, furtherincluding means to step said means positioned within said sheets in astep-by-step manner, each said step rotating said sheets a predetermineddistance, the

length of said dark-colored sheet being longer than said translucentsheet by an amount equal to a non-integral multiple of saidpredetermined distance, whereby said translucent sheet will moverelative to said dark sheet an amount equal to said non-integralmultiple of said predetermined distance for every revolution of saidsheets.

8. A reusable recording device as set forth in claim 4, wherein saidmeans positioned between said sheets is positioned between said rollersto separate the sheets before winding over the first roll.

9. A reusable recording device as set forth in claim 5, wherein saidmeans positioned between said sheets is positioned between said rollersto separate the sheets before winding over the first roller.

10. A recording device comprising spaced parallel rollers, an endlessband having a deformable coating thereon trained about the rollers, atranslucent band trained over the endless band and in contact with saidcoating, means driving the bands about the rollers, and means forseparating the bands prior to winding over one of the rollers.

11. A device as defined in claim 10 wherein the driving means comprisesa ratchet connected to drive said one roll.

12. A device as defined in claim 10 wherein the separating meanscomprises a roller between said parallel rollers.

13. A device as defined in claim 12 further including means forembossing information on said deformable coating.

14. A device as defined in claim 13 wherein the embossing meanscomprises printing hammers.

15. A device as defined in claim 10 wherein the other roll is an endlesstape cartridge.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,706,046 8/ 1926 Tisdale 34621FOREIGN PATENTS 637,863 4/1962 Italy.

RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner.

EDITH SIMMONS, Assistant Examiner.

